Oculus Rift hack brings Paperboy to the 21st century

Paperboy has gone down in the history books as one of the best video games ever, and some may say that if you’ve never played it, then you’re not a true video gamer. Either way, the game is a classic, and a new Oculus Rift hack brings the 1984 title back into the 21st century to make the experience as real as it can get.

The folks at Globacore call it PaperDude VR, and it combines the Oculus Rift, Microsoft Kinect, a Wahoo Fitness KickR bike trainer, and a real bike to turn the classic game into a completely interactive title that has players pedaling the bike and tossing imaginary newspapers on door steps as they ride by.

So does it all work? Globacore says that the KickR bike sensor detects the speed of the bike and can even provide resistance just as if you were on the road itself. The sensor on the bike trainer communicates speed and cadence through Bluetooth to an iPad which then feeds the data to the game.

As for the Oculus Rift and Kinect, those are pretty self-explanatory. The Kinect monitors your arms movements and sees when you toss and imaginary newspaper. When it registers a throw motion, it will send that data to the game where the character will throw the virtual newspaper on a virtual doorstep. The Oculus Rift allows players to look around in a 360-degree image for the full experience.

Obviously, this is something that we probably won’t see hit the retail market, and is merely just a project, but it once again proves the many things that the Oculus Rift is capable of, as well as the Kinect and the bike trainer.